Tbilisi condemns the closure of a ‘checkpoint’ at the village of Perevi by occupying forces
Georgian Foreign Ministry says that that Georgia is using all the levers available to ease tension at the occupation line. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office.
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Tbilisi has condemned the ‘temporary closure’ of a so-called checkpoint at the village of Perevi in western Georgia by the de facto government of Georgia’ Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region, saying that such steps not only violate the right of locals to free movement, but also create a humanitarian crisis.
De facto Tskhinvali government closed the “checkpoint” yesterday, as they said because of the ‘Republic Day of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali).”
We are using all the levers available to address the problems (created by occupying forces). We have raised the issue in the UN and OSCE. Current tension at the occupation line will be the key issue of the upcoming meetings of Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani in New York. The issue will be raised at the Geneva International Discussions in October,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Vladimer Konstantinidi said.
Two crossing points at Tskhinvali occupation line - Odzisi and Sinaguri - have been closed since September 4, 2019 ’due to security threats’, the de facto government says.
The central Georgian government, the US Embassy to Georgia and the European Union Monitoring mission (EUMM) say that the closure of the so-called borders further complicates the situation on the ground and creates humanitarian problems.
The de facto leadership of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region has announced a temporary closure of a so-called checkpoint at the village of Perevi in western Georgia. The de facto security committee of Tskhinvali says that the reason for the closure between 8 pm on September 20 and 6 am on September 22 is the so called Day of the Republic of South Ossetia.
The US is concerned by the current tension at the Tskhinvali occupation line and the closure of so-called borders which further complicates the situation on the ground and creates serious humanitarian problems, Acting US Ambassador to Georgia Elisabeth Rood said.
The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM), which is the only mission deployed in Georgia after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, has provided details regarding the current tension at Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region ‘‘due to the level of press interest and to dispel inaccurate reports.”
Co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) said the closure of the crossing points between Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region and the rest of Georgia “is creating additional hardship for the local people and is further raising tensions”.
Georgian Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili has stated in parliament earlier today that at the moment she was delivering a speech in parliament, Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region was “was almost fully isolated” from the rest of Georgia.
A mother living in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district was not allowed to leave the territory for several days to mourn her son who died in the Tserovani settlement, on Tbilisi-administered territory. The story caused public turmoil on social media, with the mother permitted to leave Akhalgori only late yesterday [while the young man died on September 22], Radio Liberty reports.
The US McCain Institute for International Leadership in cooperation with the Heritage Foundation and the Economic Policy Research Center has created two video visualisations showing Russia’s policy of ‘borderisation’ [erection of illegal barriers, barbed-wire-fences] in the two occupied regions of Georgia Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.
De facto Security Committee of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region says that Tbilisi is getting ready for “a large-scale provocation” at the occupation line, near the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelisi.